U.S. Arraigns Suspected Leader in Huge Hacking Case

Friday

Aug 6, 2010 at 7:22 PM

THE Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. | In November 2008, a group of international hackers infiltrated the computer network of a major financial services company in what authorities describe as one of the most sophisticated attacks ever concocted.

The hackers entered RBS WorldPay servers, accessed prepaid payroll card numbers, cracked their encrypted PIN codes, raised the balances on the cards and distributed dozens of them to a team of people around the world.

Then, in the span of 12 hours about Nov. 8 of that year, the group hit 2,100 ATM terminals in 280 cities spanning the world. Prosecutors say they withdrew $9 million - a haul that rivals 1,000 typical bank robberies in the U.S.

U.S. investigators think they were able to trace the scheme back to its origin. On Friday they brought one of the accused ringleaders from Estonia to Atlanta to face arraignment .